This Woman Does About 300 Squats In A Day

…Yep, a wicket-keeper does A LOT of squatting. Cricketer Beth Mooney lets us in on why every Aussie woman will enjoy watching the Women’s Ashes, starting this month
- byAlice Ellis

Oct
2017

How are you feeling about the upcoming Ashes?I think at the moment it’s a really exciting time not just for women’s cricket but women in sport, so it’s really cool that we get to play this Ashes series at home. I’m looking forward to us creating some more momentum and talk around, like I said, not just women’s cricket but women in sport. Channel 9’s going to be broadcasting the three one-dayers of the Ashes, and the three T20s, and then the test match and all the other games will be live-streamed on the Cricket Australia app. The fact that it’s on TV now, free-to-air TV, puts it in the public eye a bit more.

Why should we show up to games or tune in on telly? I think it’s good opportunity to see some of the best female athletes in the world on the big stage. There’s a long, long history of that Australian-English rivalry with the Ashes so it’s exciting.

What’s great about watching women’s cricket compared to men’s? The men tend to, like, just boof it round and sort of swing from the hip and generate a lot of power obviously, whereas there’s a bit more finesse in the women’s game, obviously because we don’t hit it as far and can’t bowl it as fast so we can’t generate the bat speed ­– so I think the finesse and the tactics behind women’s cricket is slightly different to the men’s.

What do you think Australia’s chances of winning this year are?I think it’ll be a really challenging series, but we’ll pip them at the post hopefully. They’ll be on a high obviously from winning the World Cup, but hopefully we’ve got the team and the structure to take them out of it.

It’s so good to see Australia really getting behind women’s cricket…Oh it’s awesome. This is my eigth season of domestic cricket, and from eight years ago to now – I wouldn’t have even dreamed of the strides that the game has taken in terms of, obviously, pay for the women, exposure for the women, just the simple things like opportunities to play in world-class competitions like the WBBL and the Super League’s that’s happening in England. There are a lot more opportunities for girls, now it’s a viable career option for us, so young girls will grow up and hopefully say to their parents or their mates, “I want to be a cricketer when I grow up” or “I look up to this person” – instead of just having male role models. I’m looking forward to how much further we can take it.

How did you start playing cricket?I grew up in the backyard playing with my older brother, and then I used to go out with dad and watch my older brother play, and one day his team was short some fielders so dad was like, we’ll get you some work. So I ran out there and proceeded to run fine leg to fine leg for a couple of years and not bat or bowl, so I don’t know why I’m still playing – I must’ve really loved it back then, but running fine leg to fine leg now would be a nightmare.

What do you love most about cricket?The challenge of the sport – you can train all week and score 100, and then the next game you play you could get a duck. So the challenge is something I really relish, but for me it’s mostly about the people, you know you get to experience some really wonderful things with some of your best mates by your side.

Do you play cricket full-time or do you have a job on the side?No I’m full-time now, so it’s really cool. Before, I studied for a little bit and then decided I was going to give cricket a red-hot go. So I just dealt with the pay standards and conditions and sucked it up for a little while in the hopes that it would turn full-time and luckily enough it has!

Would you encourage women to give cricket a go?Yeah, I would. Like I said before, you’ll end up making some life-long friends and just learning lots of life lessons along the way.

Are you excited about the WBBL, after the Ashes? Yeah, of course. I think the first year sort of took everyone by surprise with how successful it was, and the second year was even better, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what can be produced again this year, and I guess the games will be even more dynamic and well played. [Ed’s note: Mooney plays for Brisbane Heat in the WBBL.]

Because you’re a wicket keeper, you’re pretty much squatting a lot of the time, do you have strong legs?Yes, I do do a lot of squats, and the girls remind me of that all the time. And yeah, it’s very nice to have really strong legs, so I’m pretty lucky.

I wonder how many times you squat in a one-dayer?It’d be close to 300, 350!

Fave holiday destination? I haven’t been, but I’d really love to go to the Maldives. Just the fact that you can wake up and you’re right on the ocean, the crystal-clear water, and you’re pretty much away from civilisation.

Go-to snack? I’m not really a snacker, to be honest – I’d have to go with just a coffee, coffee would be my snack. A piccolo.

How do you protect your skin standing out in the sun for so long? I use a Dermalogica ultra-sensitive tinted cream. I have sensitive skin but you have to give your skin the best protection it can get, and that’s the one that works the best for me.

What about your lips? Just Blistex, I think it’s 50+.

Any tips for getting grass stains out of clothes? No I don’t, which is annoying, but if someone has an answer for that, let me know!

Fave moment of 2017 so far? I think in terms of success, we played in the Rose Bowl at the start of the year and we were down 1-0 to NZ and we turned it round and won the series from behind.

Career highlight? I scored my first hundred in that series for Australia.

What are you most scared of? Ooh, probably spiders. Luckily there’s none out on the cricket field!